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Software-defined radio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A software-defined radio system, or SDR, is a Multiplex

radio communication system where components techniques
that have been typically implemented in hardware
(e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, Circuit mode
modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are (constant bandwidth)
instead implemented by means of software on a
TDM · FDM · SDM
personal computer or embedded computing Polarization multiplexing
[1]
devices. While the concept of SDR is not new, the Spatial multiplexing (MIMO)
rapidly evolving capabilities of digital electronics
render practical many processes which used to be Statistical multiplexing
(variable bandwidth)
only theoretically possible.
Packet mode · Dynamic TDM
A basic SDR system may consist of a personal FHSS · DSSS
computer equipped with a sound card, or other OFDMA · SC-FDM · MC-SS
analog-to-digital converter, preceded by some form
of RF front end. Significant amounts of signal Related topics
processing are handed over to the general-purpose Channel access methods
processor, rather than being done in special- Media Access Control (MAC)
purpose hardware. Such a design produces a radio
which can receive and transmit widely different
radio protocols (sometimes referred to
as a waveforms) based solely on the
software used. Passband modulation techniques
Analog modulation
Software radios have significant utility AM · SSB · QAM · FM · PM · SM
for the military and cell phone
services, both of which must serve a Digital modulation
wide variety of changing radio FSK · MFSK · ASK · OOK · PSK · QAM
protocols in real time. MSK · CPM · PPM · TCM
OFDM · SC-FDE
In the long term, software-defined Spread spectrum
radios are expected by proponents like
the SDRForum (now The Wireless CSS · DSSS · FHSS · THSS
Innovation Forum) to become the See also: Demodulation, modem,
dominant technology in radio
communications. SDRs, along with line coding, PAM, PWM, PCM
software defined antennas are the
enablers of the cognitive radio.

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Contents
1 Operating principles
1.1 Ideal concept
1.2 Receiver architecture
2 History
2.1 SPEAKeasy phase I
2.2 SPEAKeasy phase II
3 Current usage
3.1 Joint Tactical Radio System
3.2 Amateur or home use
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

Operating principles
Ideal concept

The ideal receiver scheme would be to attach an analog-to-digital converter to an

antenna. A digital signal processor would read the converter, and then its
software would transform the stream of data from the converter to any other form
the application requires.

An ideal transmitter would be similar. A digital signal processor would generate

a stream of numbers. These would be sent to a digital-to-analog converter
connected to a radio antenna.

The ideal scheme is not completely realizable due to the actual limits of the
technology. The main problem in both directions is the difficulty of conversion
between the digital and the analog domains at a high enough rate and a high
enough accuracy at the same time, and without relying upon physical processes
like interference and electromagnetic resonance for assistance.

Receiver architecture

Most receivers use a variable-frequency oscillator, mixer, and filter to tune the
desired signal to a common intermediate frequency or baseband, where it is then

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sampled by the analog-to-digital converter. However, in some applications it is

not necessary to tune the signal to an intermediate frequency and the radio
frequency signal is directly sampled by the analog-to-digital converter (after
amplification).

Real analog-to-digital converters lack the dynamic range to pick up

sub-microvolt, nanowatt-power radio signals. Therefore a low-noise amplifier
must precede the conversion step and this device introduces its own problems.
For example, if spurious signals are present (which is typical), these compete
with the desired signals within the amplifier's dynamic range. They may
introduce distortion in the desired signals, or may block them completely. The
standard solution is to put band-pass filters between the antenna and the
amplifier, but these reduce the radio's flexibility - which some see as the whole
point of a software radio. Real software radios often have two or three analog
channel filters with different bandwidths that are switched in and out.

History
The term "Software Defined Radio" was coined in 1991 by Joseph Mitola, who
[2]
published the first paper on the topic in 1992 . Though the concept was first
proposed in 1991, software-defined radios have their origins in the defense
sector since the late 1970s in both the U.S. and Europe (for example, Walter
Tuttlebee described a VLF radio that used an ADC and an 8085
[3]
microprocessor) . One of the first public software radio initiatives was a U.S.
military project named SpeakEasy. The primary goal of the SpeakEasy project
was to use programmable processing to emulate more than 10 existing military
[4]
radios, operating in frequency bands between 2 and 2000 MHz . Further,
another design goal was to be able to easily incorporate new coding and
modulation standards in the future, so that military communications can keep
pace with advances in coding and modulation techniques.

SPEAKeasy phase I

From 1992 to 1995, the goal was to produce a radio for the U.S. Army which
could operate from 2 MHz to 2 GHz, and operate with ground force radios
(frequency-agile VHF, FM, and SINCGARS), Air Force radios (VHF AM), Naval
Radios (VHF AM and HF SSB teleprinters) and satellites (microwave QAM). Some
particular goals were to provide a new signal format in two weeks from a
standing start, and demonstrate a radio into which multiple contractors could
plug parts and software.

The project was demonstrated at TF-XXI Advanced Warfighting Exercise, and

met all these goals. There was some discontent with certain unspecified features.
Its cryptographic processor could not change context fast enough to keep

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several radio conversations on the air at once. Its software architecture, though
practical enough, bore no resemblance to any other.

The basic arrangement of the radio receiver used an antenna feeding an

amplifier and down-converter (see Frequency mixer) feeding an automatic gain
control, which fed an analog to digital converter that was on a computer
VMEbus with a lot of digital signal processors (Texas Instruments C40s). The
transmitter had digital to analog converters on the PCI bus feeding an up
converter (mixer) that led to a power amplifier and antenna. The very wide
frequency range was divided into a few sub-bands with different analog radio
technologies feeding the same analog to digital converters. This has since
become a standard design scheme for wide band software radios.

SPEAKeasy phase II

The goal was to get a more quickly reconfigurable architecture (i.e. several
conversations at once), in an open software architecture, with cross-channel
connectivity (the radio can "bridge" different radio protocols). The secondary
goals were to make it smaller, cheaper, and weigh less.

The project produced a demonstration radio only fifteen months into a three-year
research project. The demonstration was so successful that further development
was halted, and the radio went into production with only a 4 MHz to 400 MHz
range.

The software architecture identified standard interfaces for different modules of

the radio: "radio frequency control" to manage the analog parts of the radio,
"modem control" managed resources for modulation and demodulation schemes
(FM, AM, SSB, QAM, etc), "waveform processing" modules actually performed
the modem functions, "key processing" and "cryptographic processing" managed
the cryptographic functions, a "multimedia" module did voice processing, a
"human interface" provided local or remote controls, there was a "routing"
module for network services, and a "control" module to keep it all straight.

The modules are said to communicate without a central operating system.

Instead, they send messages over the PCI computer bus to each other with a
layered protocol.

As a military project, the radio strongly distinguished "red" (unsecured secret

data) and "black" (cryptographically-secured data).

The project was the first known to use FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays)
for digital processing of radio data. The time to reprogram these is an issue
limiting application of the radio.

Current usage

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Joint Tactical Radio System

The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) is a program of the US military to

produce radios that provide flexible and interoperable communications.
Examples of radio terminals that require support include hand-held, vehicular,
airborne and dismounted radios, as well as base-stations (fixed and maritime).

This goal is achieved through the use of SDR systems based on an internationally
endorsed open Software Communications Architecture (SCA). This standard uses
CORBA on POSIX operating systems to coordinate various software modules.

The program is providing a flexible new approach to meet diverse warfighter

communications needs through software programmable radio technology. All
functionality and expandability is built upon the SCA.

The SCA, despite its military origin, is under evaluation by commercial radio
vendors for applicability in their domains. The adoption of general purpose SDR
frameworks outside of military, intelligence, experimental and amateur uses,
however, is inherently retarded by the fact that civilian users can more easily
settle with a fixed architecture, optimized for a specific function, and as such
more economical in mass market applications. Still, software defined radio's
inherent flexibility can yield substantial benefits in the longer run, once the
fixed costs of implementing it have gone down enough to overtake the cost of
iterated redesign of purpose built systems. This then explains the increasing
commercial interest in the technology.

SCA-based infrastructure software and rapid development tools for SDR

education and research are provided by the Open Source SCA Implementation -
Embedded (OSSIE) project [1] (http://ossie.wireless.vt.edu) .

Amateur or home use

A typical amateur software radio uses a direct conversion receiver. Unlike direct
conversion receivers of the more distant past, the mixer technologies used are
based on the quadrature sampling detector and the quadrature sampling
[5][6][7][8]
exciter.

The receiver performance of this line of SDRs is directly related to the dynamic
[9]
range of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) utilized. Radio frequency
signals are down converted to the audio frequency band, which is sampled by a
high performance audio frequency ADC. First generation SDRs used a PC sound
card to provide ADC functionality. The newer software defined radios use
embedded high performance ADCs that provide higher dynamic range and are
more resistant to noise and RF interference.

A fast PC performs the digital signal processing (DSP) operations using software

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(usually amateur-written) specific for the radio hardware. In the case of

FlexRadio Systems Inc., and several other software radio efforts (principally
amateur radio), the actual code is based on the open source SDR library
[10]
DttSP . One such example is the FlexRadio Systems PowerSDR software that is
used by various SDR manufacturers.

The SDR software performs all of the demodulation, filtering (both radio
frequency and audio frequency), signal enhancement (equalization and binaural
presentation). Uses include every common amateur modulation: morse code,
single sideband modulation, frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, and a
variety of digital modes such as radioteletype, slow-scan television, and packet
[11]
radio . Amateurs also experiment with new modulation methods: for instance,
the DREAM open-source project decodes the COFDM technique used by Digital
Radio Mondiale.

More recently, the GNU Radio using primarily the Universal Software Radio
Peripheral (USRP) uses a USB 2.0 interface, an FPGA, and a high-speed set of
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, combined with reconfigurable
free software. Its sampling and synthesis bandwidth is a thousand times that of
PC sound cards, which enables wideband operation.

The HPSDR (High Performance Software Defined Radio) project uses a 16-bit
135MSPS analog-to-digital converter that provides performance over the range 0
to 55 MHz comparable to that of a conventional analogue HF radio. The receiver
will also operate in the VHF and UHF range using either mixer image or alias
responses. Interface to a PC is provided by a USB 2.0 interface. The project is
modular and comprises a backplane onto which other boards plug in. This allows
experimentation with new techniques and devices without the need to replace
the entire set of boards. An exciter provides 1/2W of RF over the same range or
[12]
into the VHF and UHF range using image or alias outputs.

See also
Digital radio
Digital signal processing
PACTOR
AMTOR
Radio Interface Layer

Notes
1. ^ Software Defined Radio: Architectures, Systems and Functions (Markus Dillinger,
Kambiz Madani, Nancy Alonistioti) Page xxxiii (Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN
0-470-85164-3)

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2. ^ J Mitola, "The Software Radio," IEEE National Telesystems Conference, 1992 - Digital
Object Identifier 10.1109/NTC.1992.267870
3. ^ First International Workshop on Software Radio, Greece 1998
4. ^ RJ Lackey and DW Upmal, "Speakeasy: The Military Software Radio," IEEE
Communications Magazine, May 1995.
5. ^ "A Software Defined Radio for the Masses, Part 1", QEX, ARRL, July/Aug. 2002
http://www.flex-radio.com/Data/Doc/qex1.pdf
6. ^ "A Software Defined Radio for the Masses, Part 2", QEX, ARRL, Sept/Oct 2002
http://www.flex-radio.com/Data/Doc/qex2.pdf
7. ^ "A Software Defined Radio for the Masses, Part 3", QEX, ARRL, Nov./Dec. 2002
http://www.flex-radio.com/Data/Doc/qex3.pdf
8. ^ "A Software Defined Radio for the Masses, Part 4", QEX, ARRL, Mar/Apr 2003
http://www.flex-radio.com/Data/Doc/qex4.pdf
9. ^ Rick Lindquist; Joel R. Hailas (October 2005). FlexRadio Systems; SDR-1000
HF+VHF Software Defined Radio Redux (http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology
/258812/flexradio_systems_sdr1000_hfvhf_software_defined_radio_redux/index.html) .
QST. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/258812
/flexradio_systems_sdr1000_hfvhf_software_defined_radio_redux/index.html. Retrieved
2008-12-07.
10. ^ DttSP http://dttsp.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
11. ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/sdr Open source SDR transceiver project using
USRP and GNU Radio
12. ^ "HPSDR Web Site" (http://openhpsdr.org/) . http://openhpsdr.org/.

References
Ulrich L. Rohde "Digital HF Radio: A Sampling of Techniques, presented at
the Third International Conference on HF Communication Systems and
Techniques ", London, England, February 26–28, 1985.
Ulrich L. Rohde "Digital HF Radio: A Sampling of Techniques" , Ham Radio
Magazine, April, 1985.
Wireless Innovation Forum (formerly SDR Forum Website)
(http://www.wirelessinnovation.org)
SDR4all, tool for research and teaching (http://www.sdr4all.org/)

Further reading
Software defined radio : architectures, systems, and functions. Dillinger,
Madani, Alonistioti. Wiley, 2003. 454 pages. ISBN 0470851643 ISBN
9780470851647
Cognitive Radio Technology. Bruce Fette. Elsevier Science & Technology
Books, 2006. 656 pags. ISBN 0750679522 ISBN 9780750679527
Software Defined Radio for 3G, Burns. Artech House, 2002. ISBN
1-58053-347-7

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Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Engineering, Jeffrey H. Reed.

Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. ISBN 0-13-081158-0
Signal Processing Techniques for Software Radio, Behrouz Farhang-
Beroujeny. LuLu Press.
RF and Baseband Techniques for Software Defined Radio, Peter B.
Kenington. Artech House, 2005, ISBN 1-58053-793-6

External links
The world's first web-based software-defined monitoring receiver
(http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901) for 40m and 80m running at the
university of Twente, EEMCS, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio"
Categories: Digital radio | Digital technology | Military radio systems | Radio
frequency propagation | Radio modulation modes | Radio resource management |
Radio technology | Amateur radio

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